﻿The nominations for this year’s Asian Television Awards have been announced, and a number of our very own local thespians have done us proud by bagging mentions in the acting categories.

Another double contender, this time for Best Actor in a Leading Role, is Pierre Png, whose roles in Channel 8’s The Journey: A Voyage and Channel 5’s Zero Calling are both recognised. He was Highly Commended in last year’s Best Actor in a Supporting Role category for C.L.I.F. 2, but ultimately lost to Jeffrey. Pierre was at an audible loss for words when we spoke to him on the phone after he’d heard the good news. “To be nominated twice in the same category is something quite unheard of as far as I’m concerned! Maybe I think too lowly of myself,” he chuckled. But the real shocker, he said, was being nominated again for the role of the villainous Heilong in The Journey: A Voyage, which won him Best Actor at this year’s Star Awards. “[If I win], hopefully this time I’ll come up with a better thank you speech!” And since he has already triumphed in an acting category for The Journey: A Voyage, he hopes that this time, it will be Zero Calling that gets him up on stage – or at least, that was the “easiest answer” he gave when we asked. “Heilong already won for Channel 8, and now it’s time to win for Channel 5,” he said, confessing his shock for the umpteenth time. Taking his nominations – and previous wins – as an affirmation of his hard work and perseverance (“You know how proficient I am in Chinese right,” quipped Pierre, who’s more comfortable with speaking in English), he said a win would a “stamp of approval”, and a loss would just be another form of motivation to work harder (although, he joked that it would be difficult to go back after not even winning one of his two nominations).News Source: http://xin.msn.com/en-sg/entertainment/celebrity/pierre-png-jeffrey-xu-bag-double-nominations-at-asian-television-awards/ar-BBdsIq2